Money Managers Are Piling Into Bets on Pork as Other Commodity Prices Decline

CHICAGO—Hog futures, long a sideshow in the trading pits here, suddenly are whetting the appetite of investors after a rally that has made pork the hottest U.S. commodity of 2013.

Buoyed by strong consumer demand and tight supplies, lean-hog prices have leapt 19% so far this year. That is the biggest gain among the commodities in the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index, which is down 9.9% in the period.